Do you want the good news or the bad news?

The bad news: I was unsuccessful for Room 204 for the second year running. The writer development programme run by Writing West Midlands is becoming more ambitious with each passing year. I'll try again next year. Third time's the charm!

The good news: I have made my first submission to a literary agency! I submitted to DHH who have five agents currently looking for new clients. Any authors that tickle their fancy will be invited to deliver a ten-minute pitch in person. Best of all, they are happy to consider novels that have already been self-published, which meant I could submit my debut novel, The Sheriff. Fingers and toes are thoroughly crossed.

In other writing news, my novel The Sheriff celebrated its third birthday. I interviewed myself to celebrate.

I also continued with my 2017 writing resolutions by reading a self-published book and a traditionally published book. This month, it was Nevada Mind The Bollix by Hilary Mortz and Hekla's Children by Birmingham author James Brogden. Both were great. You can click the links for my reviews.

I only wrote 3000 words towards my third Nephos novel but this is still an improvement on last month. I plan to hit five figures next month. You heard it here first.

I'll leave you with two things:

1) Tomorrow is April Fool's Day, so here is a free short story about a man who walks into a bar, surrounded by jokes. 2) And here is the It film trailer for the new adaptation of Stephen King's classic. It looks incredible.

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Hilary Mortz uses her novel to address that age old question: why is there not more rock 'n' roll science fiction?

Nevada Mind The Bollix (previously published as two separate parts) follows the adventures of ageing rocker and British national treasure Geordie Selwyn, as well as his extended family and music industry contemporaries.

Mortz has delivered a fun and funny novel, with plenty of dry British humour, but this is also an ambitious piece of writing. The plot is complex and intriguing. Readers will find murder, tragedy and even an unexpected sci-fi element thrown in for good measure, all of which makes for an original and engaging novel.

There are two main story threads which traverse location and time. In the present day, the characters assemble in Las Vegas for RockQuest, the rock 'n' roll version of The X-Factor, and the marriage of Geordie Selwyn's daughter. Meanwhile, flashbacks to the 1970s interweave the Vegas chapters to narrate the rise of British punk band The Bollix, their inner squabblings and their bloodied New York demise.

The connection between these two threads drives much of the intrigue and becomes apparent through later twists and revelations.

And I have to mention the aliens. If the above plot threads were not enough, there is also the matter of humanoid aliens, the Harvesters, residing in a secret Nevada desert base. Their mission is to harvest the apparent eternal youth of Earth rock 'n' roll royalty through their shadowy music company PLM. It sounds barmy but it works brilliantly. Aliens are a perfect fit for the already surreal world of A-list rock stars.

But whilst the plot is expertly woven, the real highlight is the cast of characters. NMTB is a vast epic, with enough narrative viewpoints to rival Game of Thrones. Each character is brilliantly-crafted and Mortz adeptly switches perspectives between rockers, music producers, groupies, rookies and even a dog.

There are so many memorable characters. It is hard to know where to start: the rascal Geordie Selwyn, granddaddy of rock; fellow rocker Chaz Lawrence, the Australian equivalent to Geordie and all-round bad influence; evergreen heartthrob Daniel Spectrum, who seemingly does not age; Eva Goodman-Selwyn, the power behind Geordie's throne; formidable queen bee, Ruby Nathen; self-destructive groupie Franni H; good egg Sebastian Hardwick, the British Minister for Music; and endless others.

The sheer level of world-building suggests that Mortz could confidently turn her pen to fantasy in the future, having invented characters, bands, songs, music companies, complex backstories and the intricate Selwyn family tree. NMTB could easily be the start of a much bigger franchise and deserves its own legion of groupies.

Rock on, Mortz!

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On 8th March 2014, I published my first novel, The Sheriff.

This will always be a significant date for me. It was the date when I could finally call myself a novelist. Before I was simply a writer but unleashing a novel into the world meant that I could upgrade my credentials to full-blown novelist, like a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu.

In the three years since, I have published a second novel and a short story collection, whilst also collaborating on another novel. I have signed books, given lectures and blogged aplenty. I have also learnt to live with the constant guilt that I should always be writing. Always.

Anyway, I thought I would celebrate The Sheriff’s 3rd birthday with a self-inflicted interview.

What is The Sheriff? The first novel in my Nephos fantasy series, in which magical creatures live in secret on top of the clouds.

Is it part of a trilogy? No, my Nephos series is modelled on Pratchett’s Discworld. The books share a world but ultimately each instalment is a self-contained adventure. I have written two so far.

When was the novel written? The first draft was written in November 2014 as part of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, in which writers set themselves the challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

What is a Sheriff? One of twelve protectors who police the clouds and ensure the magical creatures are behaving themselves. The Sheriffs appear in all shapes and sizes. The Sheriff in my first novel is Denebola, a cross between Aslan and Jaime Lannister, with the voice of Laurence Fishburne!

What happens in The Sheriff? Sheriff Denebola is recruited by young Toby to rid his village of a demon. There, Denebola encounters a winged man claiming to be an angel, a zealous priest prejudiced against magic and stories about a Red Witch who visited the village five years earlier.

Is it a children’s story? Probably. It’s definitely fantasy. And it’s suitable for children – no swearing, no sex, a heroic child and a talking animal. But you can decide for yourself whether it’s a children’s story, a young adult story or straight-up Fantasy 101. I’m not sure myself.

Would I enjoy The Sheriff? If you like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials then you will enjoy The Sheriff. HDM are my favourite books of all time, so Pullman’s influence was inevitable and easy to see.

Who designed the front cover? The cover was created by illustrator Matt Miles based on an extremely rough sketch and a printout of the Mufasa cloud from The Lion King!

Which is your favourite part? I love the twists, which come thick and fast towards the end. I also love when the narrative switches to the demon’s perspective. It is an unexpected curveball which hopefully makes the reader sit up and pay attention. Gak!

Which is your least favourite part? I always felt uneasy about the negative comments towards Christianity featured in the novel. The hero despises Christianity and the villains wear their crosses with pride. Hopefully the end claws back some of that negativity to create more of a balance.

How many copies have you sold? Always the most popular question and the hardest to answer! I reckon 50 copies is a fair assessment, although I have given away lots of freebies. Reviews on Amazon are better currency than money for an emerging novelist. I currently have 35 reviews.

What is your favourite review of The Sheriff? One of my writing heroes is Agatha Christie, so I love this review left on Amazon: “This is a detective story worthy of Agatha Christie: the story is liberally sprinkled with clues, but Denebola alone has the smarts to piece them all together. The tale races along at breakneck speed, with plenty of page-turning action. Best of all, the very last sentence is a cracker. Fairbanks is a master of the killer ending.”

Horror writer James Brogden returns with another dose of expertly-crafted story-telling.

Fans of Brogden’s previous novels, The Narrows and Tourmaline, will know what to expect. This is urban horror fantasy, specifically Birmingham urban horror fantasy, a sub-genre which Brogden has claimed for his own. China Mieville has London but Brogden has Birmingham.

(Brogden was actually born in Australia and cites fellow Aussie Joan Lindsay’s novel Picnic at Hanging Rock as a chief influence on Hekla’s Children.)

The novel begins in Sutton Park, where teacher Nathan Brookes loses four of his children in the woods. Three disappear without a trace, whilst the fourth returns a day later, starving and traumatised with severe memory loss. We soon learn that they stumbled into Un, the world behind our own, in which guardian spirit Bark Foot has spent millennia battling the monstrous afaugh to keep it from entering our world.

But when Bark Foot’s body is excavated from the ground by Dr Tara Doumani, the guardian’s spirit form is severely weakened and the afaugh finally gains its advantage. Nathan and Tara must unite to keep the demon at bay and finally find out what happened to the other three missing children…

The afaugh is a fiendishly brilliant creation. Brogden has amassed a menagerie of memorable monsters over the years – notably the araka, the hradix and the swarm in Tourmaline – and the afaugh does not disappoint. We read:

“The afaugh was a nightmare of terrible appetites… A pale thing, thin-necked and swollen-bellied with pitiless hunger… It’s mouth a tooth-filled maw almost as wide as its entire face.”

In one of the more disturbing scenes, the afaugh wriggles its way down a character’s throat despite being the size of a grown man. Although perhaps even more disturbing is the truth about the creature’s origins. Brogden goes full Shyamalan and delivers a sucker-punch of a twist that will stick with you long after the epilogue.

Much like Stephen King, Brogden knows how to keep a horror novel moving by concocting a smoothie of mystery, dark humour, pop culture references and enigmatic characters. There are no clear-cut heroes and villains. Our chief protagonist Nathan is flawed, showing no remorse for sleeping with another man’s fiancée. On the other hand, even the fearsome afaugh is sympathetic by the end.

And nobody throws a curveball like Brogden. There is an unexpected third act roshambo in which urban fantasy suddenly becomes fantasy, guaranteed to keep you turning those pages at breakneck speed. He puts his world-building credentials to good use – see Tourmaline and the caravan in The Narrows – and expands the novel in terms of geography, character, stakes and more.

Hekla’s Children is Brogden’s first collaboration with Titan Books – my compliments to the publisher for a great front cover – and horror fans should be excited about where this partnership goes next.

For now, pick up your copy of Hekla’s Children. It is one Hek of a good read.

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